Most Greeks believe their new coalition government is unable to resolve their near-bankrupt country΄s problems, according to the first poll published after the repeat elections on June 17, 2012.

The poll conducted by Public Issue for Skai TV found 51 percent of Greeks believe the government is unable to tackle their country΄s problems, against 47 percent who think it can.

66% of those surveyed said Greece was on the wrong path. Only 23 percent said things were going well.

The poll is one of the first published since a re-run election on June 17 which failed to produce an outright winner but gave the conservatives a slight lead over the radical leftist SYRIZA party, which opposes the bailout.

40% percent were not satisfied with the election result, the poll found. Only four percent said they were “very satisfied” and 33 percent that they were “a little” satisfied.

But 45 percent said they viewed the government in a positive light, while 43 percent had a negative impression of it.

However, the poll found 56 percent of Greeks had a negative view of the opposition and only 31 percent a positive view.

Poll respondents expressed great scepticism about the political parties, with 39 percent of those questioned saying they do not trust any of the groupings that have formed the coalition.

Democratic Left is the most popular of all the parties with an approval rating of 60 percent. Its leader, Fotis Kovelis, remains the most popular of the party chiefs, although approval for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has risen from 36 percent to 50 percent.

The poll by Public Issue for Skai TV and the Kathimerini daily was carried out nationwide between July 5 and 10, 2012 among 1,004 people.

Samaras΄s new government got off to a rocky start, with three ministers resigning in as many weeks. On Monday, a deputy labor minister stepped down, saying the government had not been tough enough in pushing for changes to the bailout conditions.

Internal rifts have emerged over the coalition΄s stance on renegotiating the bailout and it faces an emboldened SYRIZA opposition led by Alexis Tsipras, a charismatic young leader who rose to prominence in the runup to last month΄s vote.

Greece depends on a second 130 billion-euro bailout from the International Monetary Fund and European Union, who demand spending cuts that have helped push it into its worst recession since World War Two and put one in five out of work.

Led by conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the coalition including socialists and leftists initially demanded numerous changes to the rescue package but has since softened its tone as it faces the risk of running out of cash. (REUTERS)

The country is in a fifth straight year of recession, piling more misery on Greeks who have already suffered deep cuts to wages and pensions.

11 Comments so far:

Hey, a majority of Germans believe the same thing! So, what are we arguing about all the time? Can’t we all simply accept that Greece won’t be able to resolve its problems under the conditions of the Eurozone membership, and call it quits? Why do so many Greeks insist that we Germans shall believe in something that they themselves see as highly unlikely?

You are all talking nonsense. It is a mathematical impossibility that Greece can repay its massive debts, just as it is a mathematical impossibility that most of the world’s large banks are solvent. The question is why the charade of pretending that Greece can ever recover is being carried on.

The answer is quite simple. Northern Europe has decided that banks are the priority over real economies, and force this “solution” on those countries that are no longer solvent (Greece) and those whose banks are not solvent (Ireland, Portugal, Spain and possibly Italy). It is a massive political and economic error — amounting to nothing less than catastrophe. It also means a complete collapse of national markets, as there is a fiscal crisis caused by the Troika policies.

Meanwhile, the USA manipulates and controls markets and most of the larger banking institutions, so that the country which has the worst debt crisis (the USA) is not in the same position as Greece.

What everyone fails to realise is that this has little to do with the Greek economy; it has something to do with the low IQ of Papandreou, who allowed northern Europe to push Greece into this crisis; and it has something to do with pathetic little one-eyed Samaras who is so desperate to have a career at the age of 60, that a government of German-made marionettes seems fine to him.